Wipro Infotech to lay off staff?

Wipro is said to be contemplating laying off several hundred people in Wipro Infotech’s business solutions division. This is because their work overlaps with those in a similar practice area in Wipro Technologies.

BANGALORE: Wipro is said to be contemplating laying off several hundred people in Wipro Infotech's business solutions division. This is because their work overlaps with those in a similar practice area in Wipro Technologies, three people familiar with the development said.

The layoffs are expected to happen in a staggered manner over the next few months. Wipro, when contacted , strongly refuted such a possibility, saying it "categorically denies these baseless rumours" .

Wipro Infotech is streamlining operations to make it more agile. Its business solutions division employs about 1,850 people. "A combination of factors involving restructuring , growing bench (unutilized employees), and overlap in roles has triggered the layoff ," said one source.

Wipro reported a dip in employee utilization in the December quarter to 64.8% as against 66.8% in the previous quarter. The utilization is the lowest in recent times, and lower than that of most peers.

Utilization refers to the actual number of people working on projects against the employee strength of the firm. Another source said the company was trying to develop greater synergy between Wipro Infotech and Wipro Technologies.

"The business solutions division in Infotech is suffering a lot of losses," he said.

The business solutions division offers a suite of services including enterprise applications , data warehouse and business intelligence, application development and e-enabling and software products across many verticals.

Both Wipro Infotech and Wipro Technologies, which focuses on the US and European markets, have business solutions divisions.